Today, we will look at a brief history of forest management and conservation in the U.S.

1. Today, we will look at a brief history of forest management and conservation in the U.S. • We will restrict our discussion to forestry today. We will look at wildlife management later. • Obviously, we are talking about quite a long time frame, we are just going to look at a few important milestones in history • It is probably useful to divide this discussion of history in several different parts, we will call them eras. These are:

2. Era of the Native Americans ( ? – 1620) • Era of settlement and exploitation (1620 – 1825) • Era of Early Forestry (1845 – 1910) • Era of Forest Management and Conservation (1910 – 1960) • Era of Environmental Conservation (1960 - )

3. Era of the Native Americans • North America was inhabited by native tribes for several thousand years • The native people used wood for domestic purposes • There was no sense of private property

4. Some management activities were performed like the use of fire, for example • Forests were generally considered spiritual entities and hence were highly respected by the native Americans

5. Era of Settlement and Exploitation (1620 – 1845) • In 1620, the Mayflower arrived to the American shore initiating the first of the many waves of settlers • The settlers cleared forests in order to make room for houses, agriculture, animals, and also to obtain wood for domestic use

6. America became a colony for the British monarch and just like any other colonies, it was exploited for its resources • As soon as a year after the arrival of the Mayflower, the settlers sent back a ship called Fortune to England "laden with good clapboard as full as she could stow." (About.com)

7. Wood was heavily used for energy, housing, furniture, fencing and a variety of other uses • Forests were largely seen as weeds and there were no real efforts of managing the forest resources until the mid-nineteenth century

8. Era of Early Forestry (1845 – 1910) • This is when the very concept of forest management started to develop • Late 19th century: Establishment of a forestry agency within the USDA • Around that time America was a nation going through a lot of change • Rapid industrialization was about to hit the country

9. Early 1870s investigation of forest conditions and report by William Brewer • Franklin B. Hough, a physician who was highly interested in trees and self-educated himself on the subject, published his “Report Upon Forestry” • 1881: Creation of the Division of Forestry

10. 1875: Creation of the American Forestry Association (AFA) • The purpose of the AFA was stated as: • “Protection of the existing forests of the country from unnecessary waste” • “Propagation and planting of useful trees”

11. AFA was the first forestry interest group and it started to press government officials for allocating resources to manage and protect the nation’s forests • Largely due to pressure from interest groups, the government established 6 forest reserves between 1891 and 1892

12. In 1898, Gifford Pinchot was appointed as the chief of the Division of Forestry • In 1905, the Division of Forestry was advanced to bureau status and was later renamed as the U.S. Forest Service

13. During the early 2oth century, timber industry moved to the South • Heavy cutting was prevalent all over the South • Arkansas was, at that time, one of the leading timber producers in the nation and ranked fifth around 1909

14. Era of Forest Management and Conservation (1910 – 1960) • Around this time, formal efforts of forest management by the federal government started to take shape • Around that time forest fires were a major concern and many, including Gifford Pinchot, pressed for legislation aimed at forest protection and fire management • In 1911, the Week’s Law was enacted making it the first federal legislation on forest protection and management

15. Week’s law authorized Congress to appropriate an annual sum of $200,000 • These funds were used for federal assistance to protect private and state lands on the watersheds of navigable streams • To be eligible for cooperative funds, the act required states to have a forest protection agency and to provide matching expenditures • Weeks Law was in fact the first major incentive for federal and state cooperation

16. However, pretty soon lack of funding became a major problem • In 1924, the Clarke-McNary Act was enacted

17. The Clarke-McNary Act was the first federal measure that signaled a move from public to private forestry • It is the first regulation that authorized tree planting and farm forestry assistance to the private landowners • Clarke-McNary Act was the first effort to move some of that focus to forest management rather than just fire management • It also emphasized federal-state cooperation—a model that is still followed today

18. Era of Environmental Conservation (1960 - ) • Around the late 1950s and early 1960s concerns about environmental degradation were rising rapidly among the general population • Concerns about pollution, excessive harvests of trees, wildlife extinction became increasingly prevalent

19. Around this time the nation was also going through difficult times due to high opposition to the Vietnam war • Distrust of the government was rampant among the general population • A number of citizen environmental groups were also formed around this time

20. People started to demand better environmental qualities, stricter regulation of forest management and all other natural resource related professions • Consequently there were numerous new legislation aimed at protecting the environment

21. Thus began a new era. The focus in this era is not so much on specific resources such as trees, wildlife, water, etc. Rather, the focus is on the environment as a whole. The management focus is more on the ecosystem rather than the parts of the ecosystem